Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing Receives Grant to Prepare Leaders in Infection Prevention

Newswise — Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing (MNSON) recently received $279,571 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Advanced Education Nursing Program. This is the third year of funding from HRSA, which supports the Population-focused Infection Prevention & Environmental Safety track within the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program (HRSA Grant # D09HP18997). This is the first clinical doctorate program in the nation that prepares nurses for leadership roles in infection prevention in a variety of health-care organizations and populations.

“Advanced practice nurses must recognize and manage emerging patient-care issues beyond the individual or hospital in this increasingly complex health-care environment,” said Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing Dean Vicki Keough, PhD, RN-BC, ACNP. “The program prepares nurses to enhance the quality of health care by preventing infections and threats to patient safety in institutions and the community."

Coursework for this program is online so that students from diverse backgrounds and geographic locations have access to doctoral-level education in infection prevention. Students also have the opportunity to interact on campus through twice yearly immersion seminars. They also maintain interdisciplinary learning through a partnership with Loyola’s Public Health master’s program.

“This track educates nurses on how to design, implement and evaluate evidence-based infection prevention and patient-safety practices in a rapidly changing health-care environment,” said Diana Hackbarth, PhD, RN, FAAN, project director and professor, MNSON. “Graduates of the program are well-positioned for roles that require collaboration among disciplines, critical analysis of systems, application of research findings and the creation of innovations that improve health-care outcomes."

Loyola introduced the DNP degree for advanced practice nurses in 2009 to prepare students for the highest level of clinical nursing practice. While the doctorate in nursing program at Loyola focuses on research and the creation of new knowledge, the DNP programs prepare nurses to organize, administer and deliver high-quality nursing services, which focus on implementing research findings into evidence-based best practices at the system level.